Games.com Blog: “Breaking News! Zynga's Poker Blitz launches on Facebook” plus 18 more

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• Breaking News! Zynga's Poker Blitz launches on Facebook
• FarmVille killer? Social City tops 5 million players in two weeks
• St. Patrick, Easter, and the WWF meet up in Pet Society
• Pet Society will give current fans 5k Coins for 100k new fans
• PetVille backyard collection item of the day: Mini-Stone Dragon
• Mafia Wars robbing making a comeback 'soon'
• Play Zynga Poker for a free Mafia Wars sleeve gun
• Siam invades Happy Pets with kitties
• Mafia Wars Crew Collections: Score loot with a little help from your friends
• Shamrock Cat makes for a purrr-fect St. Paddy's in Happy Pets
• Follow the Rainbow to Cafe World for St. Patrick's Day
• Restaurant City gives fans a lucky pot of gold
• Rhinos on the loose in Playdom's Social City
• Happy Pets stands up for parrots with new bird perches
• Free fruity ingredients from Restaurant City
• Everything About Cafe World's Scratch Lotto Tickets
• Hideeni's Easter Eggs in Pet Society
• FarmVille Wins Best Online/Social Game Award and a Possible FarmVille Movie?
• FarmVille Provencal Pot II with comparison to Provencal Pot I

Breaking News! Zynga's Poker Blitz launches on Facebook Posted: 15 Mar 2010 01:00 PM PDT It's official. Zynga's arcade-style poker game, Poker Blitz, is now live on Facebook. The game's development lead told us this new game is designed to make poker less intimidating for non-poker players or poker newbies. If the cartoony avatar (say, isn't that the same avatar from YoVille?) below is any indication -- it looks like this poker game might, indeed, be the 'poker game for the masses.' We'll be diving into this game this evening. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments below. Play Poker Blitz on Facebook >   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FarmVille killer? Social City tops 5 million players in two weeks Posted: 15 Mar 2010 12:00 PM PDT City building games are the new hotness when it comes to Facebook gaming. Need proof? Playdom's Social City has exploded almost overnight -- topping 5 million players in two weeks, according to AppData. The game plays like a snack-sized version of the classic PC game SimCity. The goal is to turn the city into a thriving metropolis by making money and increasing the population. Specific activities include clicking on living spaces after a certain period of time (seven minutes and up) to keep them producing more population. Factories -- the money makers in the game -- must be assigned specific contracts, which can take from five minutes to two days to complete. Once the jobs are done, click on factory to collect the earnings and then assign more contracts to keep a steady flow of cash coming in. Money earned in the game can be used to expand the city limits and erect more buildings, and the cycle continues. Like any freemium Facebook game, Social City is free to play, but if you want to advance faster, you can use real-life cash to buy City Bucks, which can be used to buy special buildings or to expand the city limits without waiting to level up. Neighbors also play a big part in Social City, as per most Facebook games. Visit and 'help' a neighbor in exchange for a generous reward, which is crucial to keeping your town's coffers full. This city building game is a nice change of pace for anyone who's tired of click-farming or caring for virtual pets, and we suspect that sentiment is shared by the millions who flocked to this game in a matter of days. Will Social City be a FarmVille killer? Hard to say, but if the game's popularity keeps growing at this rate, Playdom might have a serious contender on its hands. Play Social City on Facebook >   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

St. Patrick, Easter, and the WWF meet up in Pet Society Posted: 15 Mar 2010 11:30 AM PDT St. Patrick's Day items have been released today in Pet Society, just as they had promised on their blog, which is all the invitation you need to dance an Irish jig. For those who missed it, last week featured the Wizard of Oz, and a "This Week's Specials" in the Clothing store that included costumes and props for dressing as the Wicked Witch of the West, called "Purple Witch", and the Good Witch of the South, called "Pink Witch". These have now been replaced by a male and female leprechaun costumes set. In terms of room decoration, one kind of TWC Emerald offering has overtaken another. You'll no longer find the Emerald City throne room in the Luxury shop. Instead, a more casual clover "Emerald Green Cushioned Couch" has taken residence there, along with a "Golden Harp" and "Golden Pot". And the Furniture store is now offering full house furnishing with beds, tables, chairs, and drawers. Check out the rest of this post for more in-shop previews of the St. Paddy's Day items: ...in the food shop. ...in the Cash Shop. ...also in the Cash Shop. ...in the Furniture Shop. ...in the Garden Shop.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pet Society will give current fans 5k Coins for 100k new fans Posted: 15 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT Maybe Pet Society was inspired by a similar offer that Restaurant City pulled two weeks ago, which resulted in 100k fans getting 9k coins each. To quote, Pet Society is promising that: "For every 100,000 new fans in the next 7 days we'll give every fan 500 coins up to a maximum of 5,000!" Even though they have an estimated 19 million Monthly Active Users to Restaurant City's 15.4 million, Pet Society's goal is obviously way more ambitious than what Restaurant City had proposed for its players. Whereas Restaurant City was rallying the support of existing fans, Pet Society is after new blood. Stay tuned for results within the next 3-4 days.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

PetVille backyard collection item of the day: Mini-Stone Dragon Posted: 15 Mar 2010 10:00 AM PDT PetVille keeps promising that our virtual pets will be able to frolick in their very own backyards 'soon,' and in the meantime, is releasing giftable yard items that are available for one day only. The yard item du jour is this mini-stone dragon, and -- much like the recent FarmVille giftable collection -- the only way to get your own dragon is to receive it as a gift from friends. Want a tip? We find the best way to convince friends to send you cool stuff (like a dragon made of stone) is by sending them lots of stuff first. If you still don't get what you want, there's nothing wrong with some good, old-fashioned begging to get the job done. Other PetVille backyard giftables include a limited edition pink Garden Flamingo and a smiling garden gnome. How many of these have you collected so far?   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mafia Wars robbing making a comeback 'soon' Posted: 15 Mar 2010 10:00 AM PDT One of our favorite Mafia Wars features -- robbing -- will be making a comeback 'soon.' And, it looks like there will be a robbing 'collection' that will be made up of items looted while taking the five-finger discount. Check out the official post on the Mafia Wars fan page below: Mafia Wars robbing: Ready for the big comeback?   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Play Zynga Poker for a free Mafia Wars sleeve gun Posted: 15 Mar 2010 09:30 AM PDT "Ace in the Sleeve" is the newest Zynga cross-promotional item since the YoVille Snail in FishVille (plus many more), but this time, it's being done between Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker. The gun being offered has a very impressive attack stat of 53 pts. Its defense is a below average 23 pts. In order to get your gun, click on the Zynga Poker advertisement within Mafia Wars and play until Level 6. This should take you just a round or two. The free gun should show up in your Mafia Wars inventory page. In case of confusion, note that Zynga Poker is also advertising the sleeve gun within their game, but they're calling it "Ace Up the Sleeve" instead:   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Siam invades Happy Pets with kitties Posted: 15 Mar 2010 08:30 AM PDT It looks like Shamrock Cat brought a rainbow coalition of Siamese cat cousins into Happy Pets! These ten cats are available for purchase at the in-game store for players with Levels of 30 to 45. In-store prices and access levels in ascending order: - Regular, Gray, and Gold Siamese cats are 2,895 Coins at Level 30 - Orange is 3,095 Coins at Level 32 - Red is 3,295 Coins at Level 34 - Blue is 3,495 Coins at Level 36 - Purple is 3,695 Coins at Level 38 - Pink is 3,995 Coins at Level 41 - Yellow-Spotted is 4,195 Coins at Level 43 - Orange-Spotted is 4,395 Coins at Level 45   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mafia Wars Crew Collections: Score loot with a little help from your friends Posted: 15 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT Mafia Wars family members keep growing ever more important as the game rolls out buildings (like the Chop Shop) and, now collections -- called Crew Collections -- that require a helping hand from friends to complete. There are three types of special Crew Collections -- Weapons Shipment Hijacking, Prototype Carjacking and Theft of a drone. Each collection requires 7 items, and when completed, will reward you with limited edition loot. For a list of collection items and rewards, check out the image below. Some of these collection items will be dropped as loot during missions, but unlike other collections in the game, your fellow mafioso must assist you with snagging all of the required items. You can ask for your family's help by posting a message on your Facebook wall. However, there are a few limitations -- you can only post one request for one collection every 48 hours, up to five Mafia members can help you on a request and, those who decide to help, will only have a limited amount of time to do so. If you decide to help another Mafia member with their collection -- you can't help more than one friend at a time, and you can only help up to five friends in 24 hours. (For more details on helping friends find items, check out Studog's 'How to Help Friends find Crew Collection Pieces' guide. ) The good part about helping friends with these collections is that you both get the item. The lame part about these collections? There's just too many rules. We like the idea of working with our mafia to complete a collection, but setting a one-hour time limit to find an item to send to a friend is a little too tough. The question remains -- should you even spend time on these Crew Collections? If you take look at the limited edition items' attack and defense powers, they're not that much better than items you can already get in the game. You can only collection one of each Crew Collection items as well. Since you're not going to build a bunch of extra muscle from these collection items, we recommend only taking on the crew collections if you're a completist or just want to try something different in the game.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Shamrock Cat makes for a purrr-fect St. Paddy's in Happy Pets Posted: 15 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT Every Saturday is Caturday, but there's only one special day reserved for the Shamrock Cat! Happy Pets is offering the cat in the pet shop for 36 Facebook credits, but if you're lucky, maybe you'll get it through a Mystery Box. Currently, there's no word yet as to when or whether Happy Pets will bring in other St. Paddy's goods since they've been preoccupied by the incremental release of their Wonderland items instead.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Follow the Rainbow to Cafe World for St. Patrick's Day Posted: 15 Mar 2010 07:00 AM PDT Leprechauns have taken over Cafe World, and to accommodate their new guests, the game has brought in 23 new items, new Mystery Crates, the flag of Ireland (a proud new addition to Cafe World's National Flags set), and one Irish-American recipe that unlocks at Level 51. Now, I say "Irish-American" because Corned Beef and Cabbage isn't exactly Irish. The original recipe called for bacon, but Irish immigrants needed a cheaper substitute, so in came the corned beef. This new combination has become an Irish-American staple ever since. As for Mystery Crates, you'll basically get a SPD-themed item at random for paying 10 Cafe Cash per crate. My crate ended up with a "Clover Charmed Leprechaun", which is a Leprechaun dressed as a clover and waving one in front of his face. But while an animated item is always good in my book, I would've preferred something less ambiguous and prettier. So I sold it back to the store... and got back a measly 240 Coins. But hey, maybe the luck just isn't with me today. Are you feeling lucky? Then go check out the full visual preview below to see what you might win!   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Restaurant City gives fans a lucky pot of gold Posted: 15 Mar 2010 06:30 AM PDT This "Lucky Pot of Gold" is brought to you by Restaurant City for St. Patrick's Day. It costs 1,500 Coins at the in-game store, and while it's not a real pot of gold (because it's a decorative item), it can also be sold for 500 Coins! You'll need to click on this link to get it.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Rhinos on the loose in Playdom's Social City Posted: 15 Mar 2010 06:00 AM PDT Playdom's city building game on Facebook, Social City, launched on March 3, and roughly two weeks, later, the game already has 3 million players, says AppData. That's pretty impressive considering that other city building games -- namely My Town and My City Life -- both have around 4 million players and have been around for a few weeks longer. One way to earn extra coins in the game by -- you guessed it -- visiting and helping neighbor's cities. Click on a friend's image at the bottom of the page to visit their city, and you'll be greeted with a pop-up window asking for your help. That help can be in the form of performing tasks like, say, helping save a kitten from a tree or -- new this week -- saving a city from a rhino rampage. To end the stampede, simply click the 'Help!' button, and you'll be rewarded with 425 coins for your efforts. Have you tried Social City on Facebook yet? What do you think? Play Social City on Facebook >   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Happy Pets stands up for parrots with new bird perches Posted: 15 Mar 2010 05:05 AM PDT Perches are akin to a parrot's soapbox. So before Polly's gonna tell you she wants that cracker, she's gotta have something (preferably taller than you) to stand on first. Happy Pets has stepped up to the call of the birds, and has finally brought in some furniture to go with the new parrots they introduced into the game last week. Here are the three new items: 1) Wooden Perch, 2) Pink Leopard Print Perch, and 3) Basic Perch.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Free fruity ingredients from Restaurant City Posted: 15 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT In the spirit of the Prankster Tiki Mask, here's a joke for today's offering of free ingredients from the Facebook fan page of Restaurant City. "Knock, knock!" "Who's there?" "Orange you glad for a free banana... ...and an orange?" And now, for the link to the FREE Orange, click on: http://playfi.sh/9mPieD. For the FREE Banana: http://playfi.sh/cLcfhV   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Everything About Cafe World's Scratch Lotto Tickets Posted: 15 Mar 2010 04:50 AM PDT There's a brand new feature that has just been introduced to Cafe World - the Scratch Lotto Tickets, aimed to make the game even more entertaining and to reward the really active players with all sorts of goodies. If you are curious to know everything about the Scratch Lotto Tickets in Cafe World, then read on! First of all, here's how a lottery ticket looks like in Cafe World: So... what is this ticket? Basically, a new way for you to earn some new prizes from Zynga and your neighbors. Each ticket holds three areas you can scratch and win different prizes in the game. How can you get the Cafe World's Scratch Lotto Tickets? There are two ways of getting it: either from leveling up and sending them to your friends or from scratching a ticket you've received and deciding to share some with your friends. What can you win from the Scratch Lotto Tickets? There are tons of prizes to be won and probably Zynga will update them regularly. Here are some of the things you can get: - various amounts of Cafe Cash (from one to five Cafe Cash) - various amounts of regular coins - various amounts of XP points or Cafe Points (25, 50, 100) - all sorts of decorative items Where can you find the decorative items you find after scratching a ticket? All the items can be found while playing Cafe World under the Decor tab in your inventory (the word FREE will be near them). How many Cafe World Scratch Lotto tickets can one use per day? At the moment, there is a limit of 10 tickets one can scratch per day. This article originally appeared on Social Games Help.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Hideeni's Easter Eggs in Pet Society Posted: 15 Mar 2010 04:45 AM PDT We're loving these colorful eggs that Hideeni started giving out earlier today. We wonder if they will ever hatch a baby Hideeni. There are 14 different kinds, and our fellow Pet Societyholics in the Philippines have spotted them all! The gold, rainbow and the mosaic ones are supposedly very rare. New players: To get these eggs, look in your news feed for a message like this and click the last link. A reader, Abe found Hideeni fast asleep in his house. Our poor Easter Bunny must have been pooped out! This article originally appeared on Pet Society Anonymous.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FarmVille Wins Best Online/Social Game Award and a Possible FarmVille Movie? Posted: 15 Mar 2010 04:30 AM PDT Zynga representative, Bill Mooney, talks with Kotaku and discusses FarmVille world domination at the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards. FarmVille was named the winner of the Best New Social/Online Game category at the Game Developers Choice Awards. When asked (jokingly) by Kotaku when is, "FarmVille, the movie"? He simply states "stay tuned for that". Source: (Kotaku, Stephen Totilo Interview with Bill Mooney) This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FarmVille Provencal Pot II with comparison to Provencal Pot I Posted: 15 Mar 2010 04:00 AM PDT When you complete your mansion you can share a decoration with your friends with a post. When your friends click the post they will get a special Provencal Pot II. - FarmVille Freak FarmVilleTips This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.   Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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